Monthly Archives: October 2015

With new leadership at the Veterans Administration comes the opportunity to transform the West Los Angeles VA into a welcoming 21st century campus for veterans and their families. UCLA is committed to strengthening and enhancing its 70 year relationship with the VA by providing services and programs for veterans in mental and physical health, law, adaptive recreation and other areas.

The master plan for the West LA VA campus has been released, and a 45-day period for public comments is now underway. We encourage you to submit comments supporting UCLA’s presence on the campus by following the comment submission directions found on the Federal Register website.

California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León takes a call at his Silverlake district office from former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León doesn’t want his personal story of success to be an outlier. He doesn’t want the story of the youngest child to an immigrant mother who was the first and only child in his family to graduate high school and go to college, to be an inspirational calling card. Instead, de León dreams of a future full of people from his community accomplishing what he has — making it the norm.

De León recognizes that in order to make his story obsolete, it will take the hard work of the people of California and the legislation that represents them — a legislation that needs to support the higher education institutions of California.

Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell addresses a number of students, alumni and faculty during a lunch on Oct. 5.

Meeting with a group of UCLA students, advocates, alumni and faculty, 70th District California Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell commended higher education and recognized the importance it can play regarding his most important concern: underserved K-12 students.

Before the Oct. 5 lunch, O’Donnell met with UCLA Bruin Resource Center Director Paolo Velasco to discuss the UCLA Guardian Scholars Program and it reach within the Greater Los Angeles community. O’Donnell, who has been a teacher in Long Beach for 20 years, has always been interested in helping foster youth — especially those transitioning out of the system. The Guardian Scholars Program works directly with former foster youth attending UCLA.

Actor Jonathan Bennett leads Second Street Elementary School students in a stretching game during UCLA Volunteer Day.

More than 5,500 volunteers converged on 48 different community sites on Sept. 26 for the Seventh Annual UCLA Volunteer Day.

Volunteers made up primarily of incoming freshman and transfer students, along with alumni and community members, spent the day improving a number of community sites by teaching children, painting murals and finishing beautification projects.

Among the volunteers were a number of elected officials, who offered to help in their own districts, as Volunteer Day spread throughout Los Angeles County. Chancellor Gene Block also made an appearance at several sites. Here is some of what took place in pictures:

On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students of the University of California, I wish to offer my heartfelt appreciation for your support of a veto request on Senate Bill 376 (Lara), the measure that sought to create added requirements when the University contracts out for services.